Paidi Jairaj
P. Jairaj ( Paidi Jairaj; telugu: పైడి జైరాజ్; born September 28, 1909 in Karimnagar, Hyderabad; † August 11, 2000 in Mumbai) was an Indian film actor and film director.
Jairaj came at the age of 19 years to Bombay and began to work behind the camera in the Hindi film industry. In 1929, he starred in the silent film Jagmagti Jawani by Nagendra Majumdar first time as an actor. Until 1965, he played in more than 100 films, including those in Marathi and Gujarati, but in no in his native language Telugu.
In the 1930s he worked for the film company Sharda and took leading roles in the hit film Mahasagar No Moti ( 1931). Jairaj played numerous historical figures such as Tipu Sultan, Prithviraj Chauhan, Rana Hamir and Chandrashekhar Azad.
In Devika Rani's last film Hamari Baat (1943 ) Jairaj played the male lead. He produced and directed some films including Sagar (1951 ), in which he appeared alongside Nargis, Bharat Bhushan and Durga Khote. The film was commercially unsuccessful. In 1959 he stood for Mohar once again behind the camera. Jairaj played in three international productions: the Indo - Russian film Pardesi (English trip across three oceans, 1957), for 20th Century Fox in Nine Hours to Rama (Eng. Nine hours to Eternity, 1963) and in MGM's Maya (Eng. danger in the valley of the Tiger, 1966). After 1965, he no longer appeared in hero roles and made a name for himself as a supporting actor in character roles. In 1984 he retired from the film business.
1981 P. Jairaj was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award. He died one day before the publication of his biography Jeevanachi Bharati Ohoti.